It is difficult to manufacture an integrated microfluidic cartridge that has both complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, e.g., CMOS image sensors, and fluidic channels. In most cases the fluidic channel is designed within the CMOS surface, which reduces active area and leads to complicated flow patterns. Therefore, there is a need for new approaches to integrating CMOS technology into multi-compartment microfluidic cartridges. Further, there is a significant challenge to seal a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) area in a microfluidic cartridge due to microbubbles that are present in the PCR mix, and whereas these microbubbles expand during PCR. Consequently, there is a need for new approaches to sealing PCR areas in microfluidic cartridges.